South Carolina women's basketball: Guarding Caitlin Clark
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Iowa rolls into the Final Four behind Caitlin Clark the AP player of the year who is coming off a 41-point triple-double. She isn’t the only talented Hawkeye, but Clark is the one that gets the most attention from fans.
She’ll also get the most attention from the Gamecocks.
Clark is averaging 27.3 points, 8.6 assists, and 7.3 rebounds per game this season.
Bree Hall, one of South Carolina’s defensive spark plugs off the bench, refused to get into specifics about how the Gamecocks will attack Clark (“We’re going to try to limit her production, how about that?” she told me), but she said it’s all hands on deck.
“Absolutely!” she said. “I think everybody will have a shot on her. Even our bigs, honestly.”
Despite Hall’s discretion, Brea Beal indicated Thursday that she would be the primary defender on Clark. It’s familiar territory for Beal, who normally guards the other team’s best perimeter player. Beal did it a year ago in Minneapolis when she locked down Louisville’s Hailey Van Lith, who had been one of the stars of the tournament before the semifinal.
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Although she downplayed the motivation, Beal seems to thrive against the top players. She knows all about Clark’s viral threes from the logo and the media hype, but she has to shut out all of the noise.
“The biggest thing is keeping the social media and stuff separate when you’re playing somebody like that,” Beal said. “If you’re playing somebody crafty, ‘What if this person crosses me, what if all this happens?’ Now you’re out of your game and you’re thinking about everything else. When you’re playing somebody like that you just have to play your defense.”
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Film study has become an essential part of Beal’s approach. She has watched lots of film on Iowa, with a specific focus on the Hawkeyes’ two games against Maryland, a common opponent. Beal thinks the two teams are similar.
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“Like Maryland, they’re fast-paced. They understand what their coach wants, they understand what each other wants, they don’t take bad shots, and they know who to get it too.”
South Carolina will have to extend its defense to account for Clark’s long shooting range. Fortunately, Raven Johnson and Kierra Fletcher like to defend full court anyway. And then when Iowa starts running screens, everyone, even South Carolina’s bigs, will have to be ready to switch and keep up with Clark.
“They love picking up early so naturally they’re going to pick up early. With her, of course, you’ve got to be more engaged and know where she’s at,” Beal said. “All of our guards are going to get a chance to guard her, especially as much as they move off screens. Even our posts might end up on her.”
